Secret Messages
by Sapphire Smoke
Summary: Sophie has a secret admirer, but how is she going to feel when she realizes *her* secret admirer is being admired by someone else? •Parker/Sophie•
1. The Anonymous IM

**Title:** Secret Messages  
**Author:** Sapphire Smoke  
**Fandom:** M  
**Pairing:** Parker/Sophie  
**Timeline:** After 'The Juror #6 Job' and before 'The First David Job'  
**Summary:** Sophie has a secret admirer, but how is she going to feel when she realizes _her_ secret admirer is being admired by someone else?  
**Feedback:** Give it to me, baby ;]

**CHAPTER ONE****  
The Anonymous IM**

It was one in the morning when Sophie Devereaux opened the door to her loft apartment and tumbled in the door. She wasn't intoxicated, she wasn't hurt; she was just exhausted. Her and the team had just finished pulling off a con that was quite a bitch to finish, and with all the stress it entailed Sophie was just ready to sit back and relax with a cup of tea and possibly a Marilyn Monroe movie.

She placed her purse on the table near the door and hung her keys by the side of the door. Turning and making sure the door was locked, she kicked off her shoes and took a deep inhale of breath. She flipped the light switch and made her way into the kitchen to fill the kettle with water. Rolling her neck and hearing a slight crack, Sophie closed her eyes and tried to imagine the stress just melting away. Unfortunately, her mind over matter techniques rarely work.

Sighing, she put the kettle on the stove and ignited the burner. Her feet then carried her to her living room where she fell less than gracefully onto her couch, grabbed her remote and turned the television on.

She flipped through the channels idly, wondering why nothing good ever seemed to be on at one in the morning. She was about to give up and force herself back up to go put in a movie when her computer made a chime noise across the living room. Furrowing her eyebrows, Sophie rose and went over to check the source of the interruption. She sat down in her computer chair and peered at the screen, seeing a little grey box appear.

_[ Sophie? ]_

It was an instant message, used through her email service. The email of the other person was unrecognized, barely anything more than just numbers and random letters. Sophie cocked her head in curiosity and placed her fingers on the keyboard, typing, "Who wants to know?"

_[ Someone who's trying to talk to her. ]_

Well, that didn't help any. Also, it was slightly creepy that the person wouldn't give her their name. Sophie looked back at her door, double-checking that it was locked. It was. Hesitantly she replied back, "Well this is her, who is this?"

_[ I can't tell you. ]_

The creepiness continues. "Why?" Sophie asked, and started drumming her fingers on her desk, getting a little nervous. Did she have a stalker? That was the last thing she needed tonight.

_[ I don't want you to know. You'll laugh. ]_

This was getting weirder by the minute. The kettle started to whistle, signaling the water being done. However Sophie didn't get up, she really wanted to know who it was. "Why do you think I would laugh?" she asked the mystery person.

_[ Because I think I'm in love with you, and if you know who I am you'll think it's funny or something. ]_

Sophie blinked and reread that last message. Nope, it did say what she thought it said. Was this some sort of joke? It made no sense what so ever. Sophie didn't have many friends, and also didn't know anyone else outside of the Leverage team that actually knew who she _really_ was. So was it one of them? But that was ridiculous; none of them could be in love with her. Nate would be the most likely candidate, but his head was rammed so far up his own butt lately and plus, telling her over an anonymous instant message didn't seem his style. So then who was it?

"You're… in love with me?" Sophie typed. "Is this a joke?" The kettle was whistling quite obnoxiously now, and Sophie sighed and got up to go take it off of the burner. When she poured herself a cup of tea she returned, only to find this message and that the user had now signed off.

_[ No. I think I am. That's just what I wanted to tell you and I did, so I'm going to go now. ]_

Sophie let out a frustrated sigh and sat back in her chair. She can't believe whoever it was just sent that and signed off, just like that. What were they trying to do to her? Keep her up all night, entertaining the few possibilities in her head? Because that's exactly what she was going to do, and she knows it. You can't give Sophie a piece of the puzzle and expect her to not try to figure out where it fits.

She highlighted the email address on her screen and copied it. Pressing the 'compose' button, she pasted the email address in her recipient bar and started to type and email, just needing to talk to this person some more.

"_Whoever you are,_

_If I'm going to be honest, I'd have to say that it upset me a little that you just left after telling me something like that. Do you expect me to just let it go? If you do, then you don't know me very well at all. I don't understand why you won't tell me who you are, though I'm sure you know you're only one of four possible people, maybe three because one of them I don't think would ever do something like this. Will you at least give me some sort of idea of who you are? Just a clue, please. I don't know why, but this entire thing intrigues me quite a bit. I've never had a 'secret admirer', and it sparks my curiosity. So please… just give me a little bit of an idea. I hope to hear from you again._

_-Sophie D."_

She hit send and stared at her computer screen for a bit. She takes a sip of her tea and contemplates the possibilities. Hardison is the computer person, he could easily find out her email and change is own, but then again, anyone could have asked Hardison how to do that. Eliot was tough, but Sophie had a sneaking suspicion he was a romantic at heart. However the way Eliot looks at her made it seem like he barely tolerates her, so she doubted it was him. Parker was… well no one knows exactly what Parker is, and she never shows much in the way of any kind of emotion to be sure either.

So who was it?

Sophie slightly hoped it was Nate, but she highly doubted that possibility either. Nate's only love right now is at the bottom of each liquor bottle, and he's desperately trying to reach it every day. He's gotten to the point of barely being tolerable himself, and truth be told he's probably wasted and passed out right now. Probably since his feet entered his house.

No one seemed likely at all, come to think of it. But then again, no one else even knows her name is Sophie, she always lies and tells people it's something else. Hell, even Sophie isn't her real name, but it's what the Leverage team knows her by because that is how she introduced herself to Nate so many years back.

Sophie was about to give up when her email alert popped up, with the address from her mystery person as the sender. Double clicking on it, she opened it up and read it:

"_Sophie,_

_You're really beautiful. The prettiest girl I've ever seen. Please don't stay up all night thinking about it. I know you'll get mad if you wake up and have dark circles because you couldn't sleep. I just wanted to tell you, just so you know. I know you don't like me that way, but I like you that way. Please go to sleep; you know how Nate yells when we come in late because we don't go to bed until really late._

_-The secret admirer"_

Well, it wasn't Nate, that was a start. Sophie reread the email a couple times, finding it odd in just the manner it was written. It wasn't fluid thoughts; more like sporadic random placements of sentences, plus the word 'the' in front of secret admirer instead of 'your'. Sophie blinked for a minute, suddenly having a better idea of who it might be.

Parker.

But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? How could Parker possibly be in love with her? Didn't Parker like men, anyway? Then again, Sophie wasn't sure. Parker never really talked about herself much to figure out really anything about her. The only thing Sophie knew for sure was that she grew up in the foster system, but other than that… nothing.

But on the flip side, someone could just be writing that way to make it seem like it was Parker when really it isn't. Sophie rubbed her temples; she was getting herself confused. Deciding to deal with the whole thing tomorrow because in all honesty, the person was right about the Nate thing, she turned off her computer and climbed into bed, hoping tomorrow everything would make just a little bit more sense.

**TBC…**


	2. A Rose For A Rose

**CHAPTER TWO  
A Rose For A Rose**

The first thing Sophie saw when she entered her office the next morning was something completely out of place: a vase filled with a dozen red roses was placed neatly on the center of her desk. Sophie stood in the threshold of the doorway to her office and just stared at it for a moment, wondering for a split second if she was hallucinating. But then Nate came up behind her.

"Sophie, did you look over the— what are _those?"_ Nate said as he came up to her, the flowers interrupting his train of thought for the moment.

"They appear to be flowers," Sophie responded, though still didn't move towards the vase. She looked back at Nate, who was bringing a glass of fowl smelling liquid to his mouth. Sophie sighed and took it out of his hands before it ever had the chance for to touch his lips.

"I'm sorry, did you want a sip, Sophie?" Nate asked sarcastically and held up his hands like 'why the hell did you just do that?'

"It's too early for this stuff, Nathan," Sophie said, using his full first name as a way to indicate that he had done something wrong, and brought the drink to the trash and dropped the entire contents – glass and all – into it.

Nate sighed heavily and Sophie could swear the man just rolled his eyes at her, which made her scoff. "Why did you send yourself flowers?" He asked her, looking at them.

"I didn't," Sophie said, in a voice that indicated he had just said something very wrong. "Is it so hard to believe that someone would send me a present?"

"It's hard to believe anyone knows who you really are, let alone how to find you," Nate replied, which made Sophie shrug like she knew it was true.

Sophie picked up the card that was placed between two roses and opened it. "I thought you'd like something pretty like this," she read out loud. That was all it said.

"Oh jeez."

Sophie rounded on Nate and said with an attitude, annoyed that she was being mocked for someone giving her flowers, "Was there something you wanted?"

"Did you look over the case file yet? I need to know how we can get in to the funeral," he asked her.

"The what?" Sophie asked, confused.

"The funeral, didn't I…? Oh, I thought we already talked about this," Nate answered, confused for a moment.

"Maybe if you didn't drink so much you would have remembered that you had yet to fill any of us in," Sophie said with a disapproving look.

"It's not because I've been drinking, I'm just tiered," he sighed. "Just tell everyone to meet in the briefing room in ten minutes, please."

"Fine," Sophie said, and watched him leave.

She turned back to the flowers and reread the note in her hand. She smiled, despite herself. If she was to be honest, she actually quite enjoyed this kind of attention. She hadn't gotten something like this in awhile, haven't had the time or the trust to actually have any kind of functional relationship. The thought of a secret admirer almost made her feel like she was back in high school, and someone told her a cute boy had a crush on her.

She leaned down and smelled the flowers before smiling again as she set the note on her desk. Turning, she left her office and went to find everyone else. Went to find everyone else that included whoever sent her those. Parker was still the most likely case, but unfortunately she herself picked up some of the other teams skills here and there, and she's sure someone would learn how to con and pretend they were someone else as well.

Eliot and Hardison were already in the briefing room, watching sports on the six different televisions. "Meeting in ten minutes," she told them. Hardison groaned.

"But we're in the middle of the last quarter," Eliot said.

"Tell that to Nate," I told them, before turning and looking for Parker.

She found the thief in her office, sitting on her desk and looking out the window that overlooked the skyline of the city. Her knees were up to her chin, her head resting on them.

"Parker?" Sophie addressed her, more quietly than she normally would, though she wasn't sure why.

Parker noticeably jumped in her skin, which made Sophie crease her eyebrows. Since when was Parker jumpy? The blonde turned and looked at her, jumping off of her desk. "Oh, Sophie. Hi."

"There's going to be a meeting about ten minutes," Sophie told her, curiously watching the other woman. She was acting kind of odd, well, odder than usual anyway, which sparked that theory she had again

"Okay," she said, then turned back to the window and looked out it. Sophie knew it was because she was feeling uncomfortable with her there, but instead of departing she walked over and stood next to her, looking out with her.

"You alright?" Sophie asked her, but didn't look at her directly; instead she chose to watch her out of her peripheral vision.

"I'm just watching the clouds," Parker said in explanation. She was moving her hands in an odd way, like she didn't know where she should put them. They went to go up to the windowsill but then stopped and went back down to her sides, but then moved again as she chose to cross her arms across her chest; a clear sign of defensive behavior.

"You seem a little jumpy," Sophie observed.

"I'm not," Parker told her, then her hands were back down to her sides again, then up for a second time to rest on the windowsill. Sophie cocked an eyebrow but said nothing about her body language.

Instead she opted for, "Someone gave me flowers today." She saw Parker noticeably tense up, and she went on, "But I don't know who." Parker relaxed a little.

Sophie was almost positive it was Parker. No one who was hiding something, and that bad at hiding something, would have body language the way she did right now. But it still didn't make much sense to her, how could Parker be in love with her? Sophie didn't remember doing anything that would signal that she was interested in women. Not that she wasn't, she just never tried it. Entertained the idea, but never really had anyone to try it out with.

But then again, Hardison or Eliot could have asked Parker to put the flowers in there and keep it a secret and that's why Parker was acting funny: because she knew. Once again, the many possibilities clouded her determined accusation, and she was back where she started. Filled with doubts and not having enough information to be completely certain.

"You got flowers?" Parker asked as she attempted to feign surprise, but failed.

"Yeah, a beautiful vase filled with a dozen red roses," Sophie answered. She smiled a little and Parker looked at her, then turned away as she tried to hide her own smile.

Yeah, Parker knew something alright. She was either her secret admirer, or knew exactly who it was. Either way, Parker was her connection to the person, one way or another. And if it was one thing Sophie was good at, it was getting information out of people.

But then Nate walked in. "Sophie, Parker! Meeting, remember?"

Sophie inwardly kicked something but replied, "Yeah, we'll be there in a minute." Nate left and Parker turned to go but Sophie put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Parker's body tensed a little but then relaxed as she turned to look at her in question. "Parker, can I ask you something? I know this isn't really your area, but you're a woman, and I need to talk to a woman right now."

Parker's eyes shifted slightly and then she shrugged, "Okay. What is it?"

"Actually, can you just come over after work? I'd rather we not be interrupted, and Nate will blow a fuse if we don't go in there right now," Sophie said, working through her plan. She loosened up her body language and smiled a little, becoming inviting and looking trusting.

She never thought she'd have to work Parker like this, of all people.

Parker was quiet for a second and looked like she didn't know what to say when finally she shrugged and replied, "If you want."

Sophie smiled as her and let her fingers run softly down Parker's bare arm as she let go of it, noticing the way Parker's skin seemed to jump at the contact. "Yeah, I do want that." Eye contact, and Parker shifts her eyes again before nodding and turning to leave.

Yup, Parker definitely knew something.

**TBC…**


	3. Liquor in the Back, Poker in the Rear

**CHAPTER THREE  
Liquor in the Back, Poker in the Rear**

After they had been filled in with the new case and had started to plan out the initial aspects of it that would be carried out the following day, Sophie and Parker went back to her apartment. Parker was unusually quiet throughout the entire ride, speaking only to announce that a restaurant they passed was her favorite Chinese place because the fortunes in the cookies weren't real fortunes. Sophie asked her what she meant by that, but Parker just told her she'd have to go and see one day because she couldn't just tell her because it would ruin it.

When they got to Sophie's apartment, Sophie took the flowers inside and placed them on the coffee table, wanting them to be in sight of Parker when they sat on the couch and played the game 'let's tell Sophie everything you know without realizing you're doing it.' Sophie loved that game, she always won.

Parker sat on the couch and looked around the room, since she had never been there before. Sophie crossed the room to her liquor cabinet and opened it while offering, "What would you like to drink?" Liquor was always the best way to loosen people up. Old fashioned, almost.

Parker's eyes found the cabinet and she shrugged, "I don't know, I don't really drink. Whatever you think is good."

Perfect. That means Parker would be a light-weight, which meant that this task became about ten times easier. Sophie pulled out a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and some glasses and started to pour some on the rocks for both of them. After she had finished, instead of putting the bottle away she brought it with her to the table and handed Parker a glass.

Parker sniffed it cautiously, then made a face. "This smells awful," she said.

"It tastes better than it smells, I promise," Sophie told her, and took a sip of her own to let her know it was safe to drink it.

Parker made a face which signaled apprehensiveness, but she took a sip. She made a little face for a moment, but then tilted her head before saying, "Oh, that wasn't as bad as I expected it to be."

"See?" Sophie said and smiled, holding up her glass. Parker just looked at her confused as to why she was holding it up and Sophie smiled and explained, "Usually when someone does this, the other people around clink their glasses to theirs, and then they take a sip. That's what a toast is."

"Oh," Parker said, and held her glass up so Sophie could clink them together, and when Sophie took a sip, so did Parker. "Why do people do that?" Parker asked.

Sophie shrugged, "A sign of a good time, or agreement, usually."

"Oh, okay," Parker said, and smiled as she held up her glass again. Sophie giggled and clinked their glasses again before they both took another sip, finishing their first glass.

Sophie refilled their glasses without even asking Parker if she wanted anymore. The trick to getting someone to do something was to not give them an option. "Anyway Parker, I know we're not like girl-friends or anything, we work together, but I really wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay?" Parker responded, a little confused. She took another sip of her drink, and Sophie inwardly smiled. She could tell Parker was starting to get more relaxed already; she wasn't jumpy and acting so odd anymore.

"As a woman," Sophie started out, taking a sip of her own drink before finishing, "What would you do if someone told you they loved you, but you didn't know who it was?"

"What?" Parker asked automatically, getting less relaxed. She fidgeted nervously.

"I know that sounds ridiculous," Sophie said, pretending like she was just talking to Parker as a friend and not like she was pumping her for information. "But someone emailed me yesterday telling me they were in love with me, but they won't tell me who."

"Did you ask?" Parker asked her, her eyes on the floor suddenly and the glass to her lips again; she was drinking out of nervousness.

"Of course I asked, but they wouldn't tell me," Sophie said, and purposely moved a little to get closer to Parker, but not so close that it would be extremely noticeable. Closing in. "I think it might be a joke."

"I don't think it'd be a joke, Sophie," Parker said automatically, then looked like she was mentally kicking herself for saying that. Sophie smiled inside but shrugged outside.

"Well I don't know, why would someone tell me that and then not tell me who they were if it was a joke?"

Parker's glass was empty again, and instead of Sophie having to refill it, Parker did so herself. Sophie smirked slightly; this was going much better than expected. "Maybe they were scared or something," Parker answered before bringing the glass up to her lips.

Sophie shifted a little more on the couch, bringing herself even closer to Parker. She leaned back and laid her arm on the back of the couch, behind Parker. She did it naturally though, so it wasn't obvious she was trying to get closer to Parker to make her feel trapped. Parker's eyes flickered to where Sophie's arm lay, and then she took another drink.

Sophie took a sip of her own and tilted her head, "Well what would you do if someone told you that they were in love with you but you didn't know who they were?"

"Um," Parker started, then pursed her lips as she thought of her answer, or excuse. "I'd just leave it."

Sophie inwardly rolled her eyes, but said, "Parker, you're always curious about everything. You really wouldn't try to figure it out yourself?"

Parker shrugged awkwardly, "I don't know." She shifted more on the couch, nervous.

Sophie decided to let her have a break and leaned back a little, giving her more room to breathe. She tried a different approach as she poured herself another glass. She was starting to get a little tipsy herself, which meant Parker was getting there a whole lot quicker than she was.

"It's actually kind of nice though," Sophie told Parker, with more honesty than she was expecting to come out of her voice.

Parker looked at her, "It is?"

"Well yeah, I mean it's been a really long time since someone has been sweet to be like this, buying me flowers and stuff," Sophie told her and smiled. Parker smiled too, relaxing a bit.

"It's not weird?" Parker asked her, moving a little closer to Sophie unconsciously. Sophie noticed it too, and took advantage of it because that meant she was dropping her guard.

Sophie giggled and put her hand on Parker's leg, getting a bit closer to her as she responded, "No, it's actually really flattering."

Okay so maybe Sophie was playing it up a little, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. It was really flattering. Parker looked down at the hand on Sophie's leg and then back up to her face, and Sophie noticed Parker's breath catch a little. Sophie blinked, realizing something. She tried an experiment and gently ran her fingers along the jean of Parker's inner thigh and there it was again. Sophie could practically hear Parker's heart speed up.

Oh my god, it _was _Parker.

Sophie didn't know what to do. She had thought of the possibility, yes, but she thought it was more likely that someone else was using Parker to get to her. Sophie didn't know why she thought that, when clearly it was Parker all along. How could she have missed that?

"So," Parker started, her speech noticeably altered from her nervousness at Sophie touching her. "You're interested then? I thought you liked Nate."

"I…" Sophie started, then realized she was slipping from her façade due to her temporary shock from the realization and caught herself, "I don't know, I mean I would have to know who it was to determine that, wouldn't I?"

She looked at Parker, who was actually being quite adorable, if Sophie was going to be honest. She was nervous, worried that Sophie would find out but at the same time curious to see if she had a chance. Parker finished the rest of her glass in one gulp and then placed it heavily on the table before turning her head to look at Sophie, who's face was dangerously close to hers.

Sophie realized her own breath just caught in her throat from being the close to Parker, and it freaked her out a little.

She moved back instinctively, not knowing how the tables just turned on her. For some reason, she was the one who was nervous now. But that didn't make any sense; she didn't like Parker like that.

Except maybe she did a little bit. Parker bought be flowers, she told her she was beautiful, even though Sophie knew Parker didn't think she knew it was her. She did it all just because she wanted to. When was the last time anyone had ever done that? Did something for someone else just because they wanted to, not to get something out of them?

Half past never, that was when.

"I guess so," Parker finally responded, but her voice was lower and she was looking at Sophie's lips. Sophie bit on her bottom one nervously and looked down before looking back up at the blonde and moving in, just slightly.

Parker's eyes went wide for a moment and her breathing picked up. Sophie's heart was pounding, the alcohol started to cloud her mind, and she couldn't take it anymore. They both couldn't just stay like this forever.

So Sophie leaned in some more, letting her lips meet Parker's.

Parker gasped softly from the shock, but that gave Sophie the opportunity to slip her tongue in the other woman's mouth. She didn't know what she was doing, she didn't know why, she just knew she really wanted to. Parker kissed her back softly for maybe ten seconds, though it felt like so much longer, before she jumped back and looked at Sophie like she was scared.

"I have to go," she said, and got up.

"Wait, Parker!" Sophie exclaimed as she tried to get up and get to her before she could leave, but there was a apology of 'I'm sorry' before Parker was out the door. Sophie ran to the door and looked down the hallway, but Parker was no where in sight.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Sophie cursed, leaning against the doorway.

Maybe it really wasn't Parker. And if it wasn't, what did she just do then?

**TBC…**


	4. Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

**CHAPTER FOUR****  
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend**

The next day Parker didn't show up at the office.

"Sophie! Call Parker again!" Nate yelled from the other room. Sophie could hear slamming and muttering as he most likely was trying to find something to drink, which Sophie took the initiative to hide this morning. Nate was already aggravated; it didn't need to escalate by drinking.

Sophie sighed and replied, "If she didn't answer my calls the last twelve times, I doubt she will now."

"Hardison!" Nate yelled.

"Dude I'm right here, there's not need for you to be so loud," Hardison replied from the other room, the same room Nate was in already.

"What? Oh," Nate said and Sophie saw him turn around and rub his temples when she walked in. "Call Parker, please."

"I already did, she's not answering. Do you want me to GPS her location?"

"Yes, do that." Nate was rummaging through a cabinet again, getting more and more frustrated. "Has anyone seen my scotch?"

A chorus of no's filled Nate's ears, but he looked directly at Sophie, knowing she would be the one to lie. "Sophie, where is it?"

"Nate, we have more important things to worry about," Sophie told him sternly. "Parker's missing and we had a job to do today, or don't you remember?"

"Of course I remember, I just… Ugh," Nate finished, slamming the cabinet door shut. "I'll be in my office, call me when we find out where Parker is."

Sophie watched him go before following suit into her own office, just wanting to get away from everything for a moment. She closed the door and sat down at her desk, putting her head in her hands. She knew exactly why Parker was missing, and that was the problem – because of her. The last thing she needed was for the entire team to know her idiotic behavior of trying to make out with Parker when clearly she didn't want her too. But when they ask where she's been and why, Sophie knows Parker's going to tell them. She's always too honest for her own good. And Sophie's too, apparently.

She lifted her head up and looked down at the paperwork on her desk. She needed to get this organized. As she started putting them together, she noticed a folded piece of paper lying neatly on top. Sophie peered at it, not remembering what it was. She picked it up and opened it, and only one sentence was written on it:

"_I didn't want you to know."_

Sophie sighed as she put it back down. She knew who it was from, and what it was about. She chewed on her lower lip softly as she shook her head at herself. So it was Parker. It really was Parker. But then why did she freak out when she kissed her? If she's in love with her, surely she wanted to _be _with her… right?

Then again, this is Parker she's talking about. Who knows how her logic works.

A knock on the door. "Hardison found her," Nate said.

Sophie sighed and got up from her desk, crossing her office and opening the door to be standing face to face with well, everyone else. She blinked; everyone was staring at her in an accusing way.

"What?" she asked.

"Parker's in _your_ apartment," Nate said. Sophie looked confused.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Positive," Hardison said, pointing to his computer.

"What is she doing there?" Nate asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"How should I know?" Sophie replied, getting annoyed that Nate was looking at her that way.

"Because it's your apartment," Eliot answered.

"Well she wasn't there when I left this morning!" Sophie cried, her aggravation escalating. "Can everyone stop looking at me like this is _my_ fault, please? God." Sophie turned and grabbed her keys and her coat and as she put it on she said. "I'll go get her. I'll be back in an hour."

"Don't you want anyone to—"

"No, I'll go by myself," Sophie said with a glare at Nate. "I'd rather not be subjected to everyone's accusations on the way there, thank you. Call me if her location changes."

Then she was out the door, not waiting for anyone's approval on the matter. She was annoyed for two reasons. One, everyone thought it was her fault, which to be honest was only annoying her because it _was_ her fault; they just really didn't know it. And two, because Parker decided to break into her apartment for god knows whatever reason after running out on her when she tried to make a move on her… when she _clearly_ wanted her too!

Hardison didn't call the entire way there, so Sophie assumed Parker was still in her apartment. She slammed open the door, her aggravation getting to a new height and called out, "Parker!"

She heard shuffling in her bedroom, no doubt Parker attempting to make it out the window. Sophie ran in there and yelled, "Parker! Don't you dare— oh my god."

Sophie stopped dead where she was and so did Parker, who was half out the window. Sophie was staring at her bed; there was a diamond necklace lying on it. Her aggravation seemed to have slipped away, and all she could do was gawk at it. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Parker went to go out the window again but Sophie looked at her and said in the most sincere voice she thinks she had ever heard herself use said, "Parker, please don't go."

Parker stopped, looking at her with her eyes wide. It was almost like a cat that got caught eating the canary. "How did you…? _Why_ did you…?" Sophie started to ask, but not sure of what question she wanted to ask first.

"I didn't want you to know," Parker said softly.

"I know, I got your note, but…"

"If you knew you could tell me to stop," Parker said quietly. Sophie looked up from the necklace to her. "Or you could want me, and then later we'd get into some big fight, you'd throw a blow-dryer at my head and then it'd be over."

"A blow-dryer?" Sophie asked, confused. But Parker wasn't listening to her; she was trying to explain.

"If you don't know then I can make you smile all the time. Now you know and I can't do that."

"What?" Sophie asked, confused.

"I just like to see you smile," Parker told her before nibbling on her lower lip softly. "And I bought you this necklace a couple days ago, because I knew it would make you smile."

"You _bought_ the necklace?" Sophie asked, astounded. Parker never bought things; she just stole them so she didn't have to spend her precious money.

"Yes."

Sophie blinked, her emotions starting to overwhelm her. She looked down at the necklace again, then back at Parker. That was the sweetest thing she had ever heard someone say to her. For Parker to just want to be anonymous just to see Sophie smile, to be anonymous because she was afraid that if Sophie knew she would reject her or they would ultimately break up… was the most unselfish thing she had ever heard anyone say, let alone do. She put her hand on her chest, just shocked by the whole thing.

"Come here," she requested softly, looking at the other woman.

Parker looked apprehensive, but she put her leg that was out the window back in and stood up, but she didn't come. Sophie held out her hand and requested, "Please."

Parker shifted her eyes before looking back into Sophie's, looking scared. But she took Sophie's hand and walked over to her. Sophie laced their fingers together and told her, "That is the sweetest thing anyone has done for me."

Parker pursed her lips together and looked down. She shrugged, like saying it was nothing. Like saying it was just something she wanted to do, that was all. Sophie took her other hand and put her fingers under Parker's chin, making her look at her. "I want to kiss you, Parker."

Parker's breathing started to pick up again, but she shook her head no. Sophie felt like she was going to cry for some reason and she said, "Please. I need to kiss you," her voice breaking a little.

Sophie leaned her forehead against Parker's, their lips barely a breath apart. Parker squeezed Sophie's hand out of nervousness and looked up at her. "Please," Sophie whispered against them, pressing her body against the other woman.

Sophie could see Parker swallow hard, but then ever so slightly, so slight it was barely noticeable, she nodded.

Sophie brought her lips to Parker's, closing her eyes and needing to just fall into her. Parker kissed her back, parting her lips so Sophie could slide in for a taste. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and she could feel a tear slide down her own check as she wrapped her arm around Parker, needing to get her closer to her. She couldn't believe how amazing this woman she was holding was; she was damn near close to perfect. How could she have not realized that sooner?

Parker tentatively brought her arms up to fall lightly around Sophie's neck, and she moaned softly as Sophie nipped at her bottom lip. Sophie's hand rested on Parker's hip and she kissed her deeper as she forgot everything else in the world except the most beautiful person she had ever met.

They broke apart after some time, but they were still holding each other, Sophie looking into her eyes. "Why are you crying?" Parker whispered, noticing Sophie's cheeks were wet.

"Because you're amazing, Parker," Sophie told her honestly before kissing her again lightly on the lips. Then the phone rang in her purse, and Sophie snapped out of it. She had forgotten why she was here in the first place.

"Oh, we're supposed to go back to the office," Sophie told her quietly as they stepped away from each other and she went to grab her phone. She felt like she was floating, Parker seemed to have intoxicated her.

"Nate's angry with me," Parker said. It wasn't a question; she knew he was.

"Yes," Sophie replied, honestly, but picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"_Where the hell are you? You were supposed to be back by now."_

"Well hello to you too, Nate. My day's great, how about yours?" Sophie responded with a sour attitude at being ordered.

"_Sophie, we don't have time for this. Did you find Parker?"_

"Yes I found her, we're leaving now," Sophie told him, then hung up the phone without even saying good bye. Maybe she should give Nate his liquor; he seemed to be grumpier without it.

Parker looked at her, looking like she didn't know what to do now. Sophie wiped her eyes and smiled at her, "Come on, let's get back to the office before Nate's head explodes."

Parker nodded a little, still looking scared at the entire possibility of forming a real relationship with Sophie. She took Parker's hand in hers and brought her closer to her, stealing a kiss again. "Thank you for the necklace, Parker. It's beautiful."

Parker shifted a little awkwardly, probably not used to being thanks. "You're welcome," she replied softly.

Sophie smiled and looked at the woman in front of her, and couldn't for the life of her remember why she didn't realize how amazing Parker was so much sooner.

**TBC… **


	5. You've Been Warned

**CHAPTER FIVE  
You've Been Warned**

As predicted, Nate was angry when they got back.

He lectured Parker about being responsible, and reminding her that she was part of a team now and that other people were counting on her and that what she did was extremely selfish and she didn't think about any of the other members of the team. Parker tried to explain that she was thinking about another member of the team, but thankfully Nate started to talk over her – like always – and Parker didn't have a chance to exactly tell him what she was doing.

Not that Sophie wanted to hide her forming relationship with Parker, but she didn't think she was ready to tell people just yet.

Parker hated being yelled at, Sophie could tell. The entire time they pulled off the first part of the con that day she was moody and short with everyone. Sophie didn't have a chance to talk to her because she was busy posing as a wealthy friend of the diseased, but she could hear Parker over her com, and it was clear she wasn't happy.

When they got back, Parker retreated into her office, most likely to get away from Nate who she probably thought was going to lecture her again. However, Nate seemed to rather play the game 'let's steal some of Eliot's beer since I can't find my scotch and hope he won't notice', which then led to Eliot ordering Nate to go down to the store and get him some more.

Sophie shook her head, ignoring all the petty dramas in the office, and went after Parker. She knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. When she didn't get one, she opened it anyway.

Parker looked over from her desk where she was trying to fix a harness that ended up getting a little rust on it from being left outside in the rain. "I thought you were Nate," Parker said to her, explaining why she didn't answer. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Sophie replied as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Parker looked back down at what she was doing, and Sophie crossed the room to sit on the chair opposite of Parker's desk.

Parker didn't say anything and Sophie knew she was still feeling kind of awkward about the whole thing. "Parker, I was wondering if maybe…" Sophie started and Parker looked up at her. "If maybe you'd want to go to dinner with me tonight," she finished.

Parker let out a little breath and then looked down at her harness again before saying, "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Sophie looked taken aback for a moment, stunned. Surely she wasn't _still_ insisting that they don't get involved together, right? "Why?" Sophie asked her, trying to keep the rejection out of her voice, but not sure that she did.

Parker shrugged a little, still not looking at her. "I don't think we should date," she told her.

"What? Why?" Sophie asked, her voice raising an octave or two from the shock of just not understanding any of this.

Parker finally looked up at her and said seriously, "Because one of us will end up crying."

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked her, standing so she felt like she had more control over the situation. This had never happened to her in her life.

Parker put down the harness; realizing Sophie needed her full attention. She looked at her and replied, "I'll end up hurting you."

"You can't know that."

Sophie was now moving, almost pacing, just needing something to do to distract her from her own emotions. Parker nodded and said, "Yes, I do. I love you, Sophie, so I don't want to hurt you."

"Parker…" Sophie stopped pacing and ended up in front of the thief, looking down at her. "Why do you think that?"

"I make bad decisions, I'm reckless, I'm impulsive," Parker told her, like she was reading off of a diagnosis that she once had. "I cheat, Sophie."

"What?" Sophie asked, looking at her like she couldn't believe that.

"If I want something I'll take it," Parker explained. "It's what I do, and I guess it hurts people when I do that. I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't," Sophie told her.

"It's what I do."

"The hell it is, Parker! You can do whatever you want, no one is hard-wired to make bad choices," Sophie exclaimed, looking at the thief like this was a ridiculous conversation and that Parker should just be faithful and then go to dinner with her.

"I'm sorry I'm making you mad."

"You're not…" Sophie started, but the sighed and said. "Actually no, your right, you are. I'm mad because I don't understand it! You tell me you love me, you give me all these beautiful things just because you want to see me smile, and then when I start to reciprocate those feelings you just don't want anything to do with me. How is that fair?"

"I don't know," Parker said, confused a little by Sophie's outburst.

"Parker," Sophie said, getting frustrated. "You can't tell me you don't feel these things." To Parker's surprise, Sophie got right up into her personal space by straddling her lap on the chair. Parker's eyes went wide. "You can't tell me you can sit here and resist temptation when it's sitting on your lap." Sophie's hands were now running up Parker's stomach, over her chest, making Parker's heart start to beat faster and her breathing become more irregular. Sophie, glad that she was seeing proof in Parker, softened her voice a little, going from frustrated to being a seductress.

"You can't tell me that your body doesn't react when I touch you…" she said in a low voice, bringing her hands up to cup Parker's breasts and slide her thumbs over her nipples, hardening them instantly under her shirt. Parker let out a quiet gasp, staring at Sophie like she didn't know what to do.

Sophie leaned her head down to rest above Parker's shoulder, her breath tickling the other woman's ear. "You can't tell me you wouldn't love to touch me…" Sophie practically purred that into her ear, feeling the desperate need to make Parker see things her way. She reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head, looking in Parker's eyes the whole time.

Parker looked like she might possibly have a heart attack. But in a good way.

Sophie smirked and reached back to unhook her bra, letting it fall to the ground. She wasn't usually this dominant, and normally she would never start to take off her clothes where she works, but to her this was an emergency. She refused to find someone as amazing as Parker and just let her walk away because of her ridiculous fears.

Parker was staring at her chest, her own starting to rise and fall rapidly by how turned on she was starting to get. "Sophie…" she breathed out. "I don't think this is such a good idea—"

But Sophie took Parker's hands in hers and placed them on her breasts, closing her eyes as Parker's fingers automatically teased her nipples. "Just stop thinking, Parker," Sophie whispered, eyes closed and hips rocking softly against the blonde, feeling her own desperate desire starting to build.

Then Sophie felt Parker's hands start to move, roaming over her figure. Down her sides, back up again to cup Sophie's breasts a little roughly. Sophie gasped out in pleasure and brought her head down to look at Parker, her brown locks tumbling around her face. She bit her lower lip softly before deciding to be recklessly abandoned and kiss Parker passionately, her own fingers starting to tug at the hem of her shirt, needing to get it off of her.

Parker kissed her back hungrily, moaning softly into her mouth. Sophie was happy she won, though in the back of her mind she had this nagging feeling like she could possibly regret that she did. But right now it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Parker was now helping Sophie get her own shirt off, and then when it too was discarded and their lips met once again, Parker's fingers were starting to wander up Sophie's knee length skirt.

Sophie had never done this before, be with a woman intimately. She had thought about it, watched dirty movies of it, but never physically tried. She thought she would be more nervous, more scared that she would do it wrong. But Sophie noticed that besides the fact that a dick wasn't involved, sex with a woman was almost like sex with a man.

Only for some reason it was much, _much_ hotter.

"Oh my god," Sophie gasped out softly against the other woman's lips, trying to keep herself quiet since the rest of the team was still in the building. But Parker's hand had found that place Sophie most desperately wanted it to go: under her panties.

Sophie found that her panties were making it more difficult for Parker to maneuver so she reached down and ripped one side of it in one pull, not caring in the least. She felt Parker smirk against her lips before sliding two fingers into her, which unfortunately made Sophie emit a _very_ loud sound of pleasure.

"Shit, Sophie," Parker told her, taking her fingers out of her. "Get off of me."

"What? Why?" Sophie asked, dazed in her sexual haze, not understanding what just happened. But Parker threw her her shirt and started to put on hers just as a knock was heard through the door.

"Fuck," Sophie muttered, and struggled to get her own shirt back on. Just as she managed to get herself dressed, Eliot walked through the door.

"God damn, we're trying to watch the game, why are you guys screaming?" He looked annoyed at being interrupted.

"We… uh…" Sophie started, but for the first time in her life couldn't come up with an excuse off the top of her head. Her breathing was irregular and she was sure she was flushed. She turned and pretended to look out the window, hoping Eliot wouldn't notice.

"Sophie tripped over my desk," Parker said, though her lie wasn't convincing either. Parker was never good at lying.

"Your desk, huh?" Eliot asked, then his eyes scanned the room, then the faces of the two women. "And she fell onto your fingers?"

Sophie whipped around so fast she almost pulled a muscle in her neck. "Eliot, we—"

Eliot waved his hand dismissively, "Do what you do, I don't care, just do it at home where it's not interrupting my television watching."

Sophie stared at him in astonishment; surely she pegged him for making the biggest deal out of this. Well, outside of Nate. Part of her wanted retort that he shouldn't be watching television here as much as they shouldn't be having sex there, but she didn't, deciding rather to deal with a more pressing issue. "Please don't tell—"

"Nate, I know," Eliot said, then the smirk Sophie predicted earlier came and he said. "Though promise me something: if you two start wearing outfits, take a picture?"

Sophie's eyes narrowed and she said, "Out, Eliot."

Eliot flashed them a grin but put up his hands in surrender. "It was just a request…"

"OUT."

"You're bra's in the middle of the floor, by the way," Eliot told her so he could have the last word as he closed the door behind him.

Sophie looked down at the ground and flushed as she picked back up her bra before looking at Parker. "Forgot about that," she mumbled.

Parker wasn't paying attention though, she scrunched her face to the side a little in thought before asking her: "Do you think he'll tell?"

"No," Sophie told her, hoping she was right. But if there was one thing about Eliot, it was that he was loyal when he finally found someone to be loyal too. The Leverage team… they were as close to his family as he could get.

"Good," Parker said. "Nate's yelled at me enough today."

**TBC…**


	6. Ground Rules

**CHAPTER SIX  
Ground Rules**

Hands in her hair, lips on her neck. Sophie had her eyes closed, biting her lower lip softly as Parker's mouth fluttered across her skin as she straddled her on Sophie's black leather couch. It wasn't passionate and full of need like their last encounter, instead this time it seemed Parker was finally indulging in her fantasy and was taking her time enjoying every single part of Sophie.

Sophie had a little time to think though about Parker's revelation. To be honest, she didn't know exactly what to do about it. Sophie had always been a big fan of monogamy, though only due to the fact that she had a tendency to be jealous. She didn't like other people touching her man (or woman, in this case) and while usually she would get out quick if faced with this situation, for some reason she couldn't this time.

Parker was something of an entirely different caliber than everyone she had ever sated. They were all selfish, doing things for her only so they could get something in return. Parker wasn't like that; she just did things for Sophie, no strings attached. She made Sophie feel beautiful, loved, _lucky_. How could she just walk away from that just because Parker had a problem with impulsivity?

God, even as she thought it an image of Parker and another woman formed in her head, making her feel a sinking feeling in her stomach. What if Parker finds something better than her? People do fall out of love with each other.

"Parker," Sophie whispered as she took Parker's hands in hers and untangled the other woman from her. Parker sat up, looking at Sophie expectantly. "Can we talk for a minute?"

Parker smiled and nodded before moving a little so she could sit next to her instead of on top of her, though still left her legs dangling over Sophie's.

"I've been thinking about what you said and…"

And what? Sophie still didn't have an answer. She hated the idea of Parker with someone else, though she knew in this stage of their relationship she shouldn't be. They weren't serious after all, just barely starting to date, but Sophie kind of felt like because Parker was in love with her that they should just jump right in. But did Parker feel that way? She doubted it.

But Sophie knew that even though she hated the idea of her cheating, she loved the idea of her and Parker together even more than that. And who knows, maybe they could have a future together – and sometimes the future required sacrifices.

"And I guess we could have an open relationship of some kind, so that you wouldn't be cheating if you did something," Sophie finished, though didn't believe a single word that came out of her mouth.

Parker looked at her curiously, tilting her head a bit as if to examine her. "That wouldn't make you happy," she observed.

Sophie pursed her lips together and looked down before replying, "No, I guess it wouldn't. But I want to be with you, Parker." She looked up into the other woman's eyes and finished, "And to do that I'd have to make sacrifices."

Parker shook her head, "No, I want to make you happy."

"You do, Parker. You really do, but no one can make anyone completely happy," Sophie told her, tucking a piece of blonde hair behind the thief's ear.

"I could try."

Sophie laughed a little, pulling Parker closer to her. "See, and that's why I want to be with you." She turned Parker's face towards her gently and gave her a soft kiss. When they broke she told her, "But even if you had it your way and I didn't know, yes I would be happy with the kind words and the gifts, but that's never enough. I'd never be able to kiss you, never be able to hold your hand, never be able to_ be_ with you… and that would make me unhappy."

"Really?" Parker asked her like she still didn't fully understand the concept.

"Really," Sophie told her, then ran her fingertips down Parker's arm to hold her hand. "Were you happier being anonymous, or happier being able to be with me?"

Parker chewed lightly on her lip before replying, "Well, this is nice."

"See? But you're scared, and that's your sacrifice. Mine would be to allow you to see other people… on occasion." She made the last part perfectly clear.

"On occasion?" Parker asked, trying to make Sophie clarify that statement so she didn't get herself into trouble.

"Yes. Like for instance… one time encounters," Sophie said.

"Like only have sex with a person once?"

"Yes. And no… no dating, either. Please," Sophie requested, looking at her like she hoped she would agree to it.

"So only dating you, but I can have sex with someone else only once?" Parker asked. "Once per person, right"

"If you don't mind," Sophie said, feeling weird even talking about it.

Parker thought about it for a minute then said, "I think I can do that. It's not very often that it happens anyway."

Sophie doubted that, Parker was gorgeous. The minute she walked in the room she probably always had a million people swarm all over her.

Not that Parker probably noticed. She seemed oblivious most of the time about her sex appeal. She really never seems to get that people find her attractive, sexy even. Because she was.

Parker started kissing Sophie's neck again, and she closed her eyes. She wrapped her arms around the blonde and sighed happily. Parker brought her lips up close to her ear and whispered, "I can have sex with you, right?"

Sophie laughed a little, "I'd say that's a possibility."

"Right now?" Parker asked in a whisper, her lips fluttering over Sophie's neck before biting down softly. Her hands had started to wander up Sophie's shirt, making Sophie's breath catch in her throat.

"We could…" Sophie breathed out, trying to concentrate. "But then we'd miss our dinner reservations."

Parker sat up and looked at Sophie confused, her hands still on her breasts underneath her shirt. "Dinner reservations?"

"Mhm."

"You want to take me on a date?" Parker asked, like it was an absurd thing to do.

"Mhm," Sophie replied again.

"Why?" Parker asked. She really didn't get it. "Don't you just want to have sex? Everyone always just wants to have sex."

Sophie rolled her eyes and took Parker's hands in hers, moving them away from her breasts so she could hold them. She looked at her seriously and said, "Parker, I would love to have sex with you, I _will_ have sex with you. But that's not all I want from you either."

"Oh," Parker replied, looking slightly shocked. "Where are we going?"

Sophie grinned, "You'll see. Come on, get your coat."

Sophie ended up taking Parker to her favorite Chinese restaurant, which made Parker squeal a bit and jump up and down like a kid. She was excited that Sophie remembered. Sophie just smiled; she loved how happy she just made Parker just from that simple thing. She took her hand and they entered the restaurant, being seated near the back in a booth.

Parker was excited, she told Sophie she can't wait till she got her fortune cookie because they were 'awesome'. The way Parker talked about them it made her kind of curious, she had to admit. She thought fortune cookies were all the same.

When the fortune cookies did come, Parker handed her hers and smiled and said, "You first, open it."

By this time, Sophie wasn't sure if something was going to pop out at her or not, so she opened it cautiously. When she saw just a normal fortune in there she crinkled her brow and picked it up, but read it out loud: "You shouldn't beat a dead horse. Instead, consider selling it to a shady local butcher shop." Sophie paused, "What the fuck?"

Parker laughed and opened up hers before reading: "Acronymphos love to have S.E.X."

"Oh lord," Sophie said, holding her hand out to her. "Does that really say that?" Parker handed it to her and there in black and white, it was. "Oh my god, what the hell?"

Parker was laughing so much harder now, amused by Sophie's shock. After a couple seconds of confused blinking, Sophie finally cracked a smile and giggled a little. "I can see why you like it here."

Parker grinned and took Sophie's hand to help her up out of the booth. Sophie turned and threw a couple bills on the table before getting dragged out of the restaurant by Parker, who seemed to be in a hurry for something.

"What's the rush?" Sophie asked her as she got pulled out the door.

"After dates we get to have sex," Parker said seriously, which made Sophie laugh.

"Okay calm down there, killer. My apartments not that far away," Sophie said, trying to slow her down.

Parker grinned and rounded on her before leaning in and whispering something obscene that she wanted to do to Sophie in her ear, which made Sophie say. "No, you're right, lets not keep it waiting any longer."

And then it was Sophie's turn to pull Parker to the car, Parker grinning mischievously after her.

**TBC…**


	7. Exhibitionism

**CHAPTER SEVEN  
Exhibitionism**

"Parker I can't drive when you're doing that!"

Parker laughed softly in her ear, her breath tickling Sophie's neck. Her hand was wandering up Sophie's shirt, making her breath catch in her throat and her squirm in her seat. She tried to focus, keep her attention on the road, but then Parker's hand had snaked it's way to unhooking her bra and now her hands were somewhere she'd rather have them be in the privacy of her own house and not in the middle of the car when she's trying to drive.

"Driving is overrated," Parker giggled, brushing her fingertips over Sophie's nipples lightly. Sophie made some sort of whimpering sound before biting her lower lip, which seemed to amuse Parker more.

"Not if we get killed," Sophie gasped out as Parker pinched her lightly. "Fuck, Parker! What are you trying to do?"

"I thought that was obvious," Parker responded before her hand started to move lower, down Sophie's abdomen… down Sophie's skirt.

"Don't you da—" Sophie tried to say but then was interrupted by herself emitting a loud moan as Parker's fingers found where they wanted to go. "Bloody hell!" She had to slam on the brakes and swerve to avoid a car that she almost ran into.

Sophie's plan of driving didn't seem to be working out quite the way she originally intended it to, so while trying to hold her concentration like her life depended on it (which it did) she pulled over into a parking lot and drove around the back of the building before screeching the vehicle to a halt and turning it off.

She took the keys out and threw them on the dashboard as she let out a loud sound of pleasure as Parker rubbed her a little harder in the right spot and she closed her eyes. "Shit," she muttered through moan before reaching her hand down to hold Parker's wrist, stopping her.

"Hey!" Parker said, clearly annoyed. "I wasn't finished!"

Sophie opened her eyes and smirked as she turned her head to look at the blonde. "You almost got us killed," she told her, but the smirk was still on her face, so she wasn't chastising her too much.

Parker looked at her innocently, which is Sophie was to be honest she had an eerily good imitation of it, and blinked. "But I didn't."

Sophie rolled her eyes and practically pounced on her in the passenger seat, which made Parker squeal, then laugh and cry out, "You're going to get us in trouble!"

"Said the one who'd rather risk our lives to shag me rather than just risk getting seen in a parking lot," Sophie giggled and took Parker's wrists in her hands and pinned them above Parker's head. Parker squirmed to get loose but couldn't so she squished her face together to indicate being unhappy; she clearly wanted to be the one running the show.

"Adrenaline is sexy," Parker rationalized with a pout, her chest rising and falling just a little quicker from being out of breath from trying to struggle out of the hold that Sophie had on her and failing. "Exhibitionism is over done."

"I'm not an exhibitionist," Sophie said with a bit of a mock offense before cocking an eyebrow at her and letting her hands go before taking the bottom hem of her shirt and peeling is slowly off of her body, her breasts falling from her shirt freely due to Parker already removing her bra earlier.

"Mhm," Parker said apprehensively as she watched Sophie undress in the middle of the day in a parking lot. "Sure you're not." She grinned at her mischievously. Maybe it wasn't a full parking lot and it _was_ starting to get dark, so she wasn't _that _bad, but she surely was getting off on this in some way or another.

Sophie just smirked again before bringing her lips to Parker's, kissing her passionately. Parker moaned softly and ran her hands up Sophie's bare back before coming around to cup her breasts a little roughly, sliding her thumbs over her already hard nipples, making Sophie gasp hard against her lips.

Parker broke the kiss to tell her breathlessly: "Get in the back."

"Well look who's being dominant," Sophie teased slightly.

"Look who's about to give that couple over there something pretty to look at," Parker responded with a laugh and a nod over to the left side of the car, which made Sophie whip her head around to look at what she was talking about.

"Shit!" Sophie exclaimed, almost diving in the back, making Parker emit a series of giggles, amused.

"Guess I was wrong," Parker said with a sly smirk as she unzipped her pants and slid them off of her body and onto the floor board of the passenger side before climbing over the seats where Sophie's back windows were tinted. She climbed on top of her before taking off her shirt, leaving herself completely nude on top of Sophie in the back of her car. "You aren't much of an exhibitionist."

Sophie didn't have a smart remark for that, all her thoughts seemed to have disappeared since her eyes fell on Parker's naked body. "What?" she asked, breathless and confused, not registering anything except for how incredibly sexy Parker looked sitting astride her nude.

Parker looked at her like she was surprised and yet incredibly entertained by Sophie's inability to think due to her body, and she teased her a bit by running her hand down her stomach to rest between her own legs, which made Sophie whimper and squirm underneath her before she went to touch her herself. Her actions were thwarted by Parker grabbing her hands first and putting them above her head, just as Sophie had done earlier.

"Fuck, Parker," Sophie breathed out as she tried to get loose. "Stop bloody teasing me."

"You started it," Parker said with a smirk before she did let Sophie go, but not before crashing her lips to the brunette while her hand snaked between their bodies to help her remove her skirt that seemed to be the only fabric left between her and all of Sophie.

Sophie lifted her hips as Parker slid her skirt down her thighs as her arms wrapped around Parker's neck, moaning softly into her mouth at the feel of Parker's naked body on hers. When she finally kicked off the skirt she threw one leg over the car seat which made Parker rest her thigh between Sophie's legs, pressing hard against her, making Sophie cry out loudly and grasp at Parker's back.

Parker's lips started their decent to Sophie's neck, nipping it lightly as Sophie squirmed, trying to rub herself harder against Parker's thigh. Her nails were starting to leave scratches on the thief, but Parker showed no sign of caring. Her hand slid down Sophie's body slowly and Sophie bit her bottom lip in anticipation, but Parker's hand rested on her hip. Sophie squirmed more, whimpering softly in need.

"Parker, please…" she gasped out, moving against her thigh more to have her get the point.

Parker just giggled softly and whispered against her neck, "I'll make it worth the wait." Sophie emitted a sound of pure sexual frustration and her own hand made it's way between their bodies. But just before she went to touch Parker, she stopped her. "No, I want to do you first," Parker told her quietly before moving her hand back out of the way.

"Parker…" Sophie said, slightly pleading. It had been quite some time since she had sex of any kind and she felt like she was going to die right there if someone didn't do _something._

"Shh…" Parker whispered, putting a finger to Sophie's lips softly. Sophie just sighed, trying to calm herself down enough to let Parker do what she wanted. She nodded slowly and closed her eyes instead.

When Parker felt her body relax a bit she slid her right leg over Sophie's left so Sophie's thigh was now pressed between Parker's legs as well. Sophie squirmed at feeling the heat and the wetness coming from Parker, but Parker said softly, "Wait."

Sophie took another deep breath, still not opening her eyes. She felt Parker sit up a bit before her hands were placed lightly on her body. Sophie shuttered slightly and moaned as Parker clawed her fingers and then ran her nails softly up her sides and then underneath her breasts as she pressed her thigh further into Sophie. Sophie moaned hard and one of her hands grabbed for the seat as she pushed herself into Parker, just needing to feel her.

But then Parker was gone; her thigh no longer between her legs, and Sophie opened her eyes to look at her. Parker looked up and shook her head at her with a smile before saying, "Close your eyes, don't open them."

Sophie licked her lips in anticipation and said, "But I—"

Parker stopped her by climbing on top of her and kissing her again, though this time softly, stopping Sophie's words. When they broke she whispered. "Just trust me Sophie, please?"

Sophie nodded again, closed her eyes and found herself completely forgetting they were in the back of her car, in the parking lot. All she knew was Parker, where her hands were, were her lips were. Nothing else mattered.

"Oh my god," fell from Sophie's lips as suddenly Parker's lips were on her thighs, kissing her softly. Sophie spread her legs as much as she could her tiny car, opting for one to go between the front seats. Her heart was beating faster, her breathing more ragged as Parker got closer to the center of her. She wanted Parker's mouth of her more than anything and knew they probably wouldn't have much room, so she planted her feet and hoisted herself up more so she could slide back, giving Parker a bit more room to do what she wanted.

But Parker's hand was on her first, making Sophie jump a little at the unexpected contact, but moaned softly when Parker brushed her fingertips over her clit. "Please," Sophie whimpered again, this time more desperate. She was so close to the edge already and all she wanted to do was fall off of it.

Parker's lips were back on Sophie's thigh, as close as they could get to where Sophie wanted them but still not close enough. Sophie was about to beg again when all of a sudden she cried out as Parker's lips finally wrapped around her clit. "Oh god!" she screamed as she could feel Parker's tongue on her, flicking her clit lightly but steadily, making Sophie thrust her hips more towards her face.

Sophie gasped hard, her heard pounding her in throat. Her nails dug into the seat cushion as she cried out again as Parker made some sort of humming noise, vibrating her in all the right ways. She set her jaw and her eyes were clenched tightly shut as she felt the first wave, already coming. "Parker!" she gasped out hard, her other hand reaching out for the top of the car seat as she hoisted herself to sit up a little as she felt her muscles contract again hard. "Oh _fuck_, Parker!" she screamed loudly as they contracted one final time, letting out of wave of pleasure that had been building.

Sophie's hand let go of the car seat and she fell back down, banging her head a bit on the door, but she didn't care. She couldn't feel it. She let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding as she felt Parker climb back on top of her, her own breathing ragged.

Sophie opened her eyes to look at her, and she looked beautiful. Her blonde hair was hanging around her flushed face, looking more turned on and more sexy than Sophie had ever seen her before. She placed her hand on the back of Parker's neck and brought her down to kiss her, tasting herself on her lips which made her groan in pleasure.

Parker wasn't wanting to go slow anymore, she needed it and it was obvious in the way that she positioned herself on top of Sophie quickly before grabbing Sophie's hand. She put it between her own legs before pressing herself and Sophie's hand against Sophie's thigh before taking her own hand and pressing it against Sophie's clit again before her own thigh was behind it so they could have leverage.

Sophie moaned hard, not ready to be pleasured again without her automatically exploding, but Parker didn't seem to care. She kissed her with more passion as she rocked herself against Sophie's hand, which finally became awake to the situation and pressed hard against Parker's clit, making Parker cry out against Sophie's lips. "Fuck, Sophie!" she gasped as she tried to pleasure Sophie a little softer than how Sophie was doing her because she wanted them to release at the same time and Sophie was already almost there again.

"Oh my god," Sophie shuddered as she gasped hard, opening her eyes to look into Parker's, using her free hand to move the blonde hair away from her face as she rocked her hips in time with the thief's. Parker looked down at her, breathing heavily, eyes filled with desire. Sophie watched as she rubbed Parker harder how Parker closed her eyes and let out a low sexy moan that was almost like a growl before her breathing picked up significantly, almost like she was hyperventilating, but Sophie knew she was almost there.

"I want you to cum all over me, Parker," Sophie told her in a whisper, using the raunchiest sexiest voice she could, which wasn't hard with her accent. That did it for Parker, Sophie could feel her contract even though she wasn't inside of it was that hard, and Parker screamed close to bloody murder as she came, but with the final wave pressed against Sophie hard and took her with her, making her arch her back into the other woman and feel like she just reached cloud nine.

Parker collapsed on top of her, breathing heavily, not being able to move for the life of her. Sophie's eyes were still closed, and it took all the effort she could muster to wrap her arms around Parker, just wanting to hold her.

Then there was a knock on the window. "Ma'am… _Ma'am_, Could you please step out of the vehicle?"

"Oh, bloody _hell_," Sophie sighed looking at Parker, like 'now what?'

"I told you you were going to get us in trouble," Parker said breathlessly, giggling a little.

**TBC…**


	8. Out Of The Closet

**CHAPTER EIGHT  
Out of the Closet**

"You got arrested for having sex in your car," Nate said slowly to the two women in his back seat as he drove out of the police station and threw his fake FBI badge on the passenger seat. He said it like he couldn't believe the words were actually coming out of his mouth.

"For the fifth time, Nate, yes," Sophie said, no longer that embarrassed, only annoyed that he seemed to be repeating it over and over again.

"…With each other?"

"Yes, Nate!" Sophie exclaimed, exasperated. She fidgeted with her hands behind her back that were still cuffed.

"Sorry," Parker said, just trying to help the situation a little. She didn't.

"What were you—_why_ were you…?" Nate stuttered, his eyes furrowing, confused and shocked by the whole thing, his eyes looking at Sophie in his rear view mirror.

"Sophie's my girlfriend," Parker explained to him, smiling a bit. Sophie takes a deep breath and waits for it.

"_What?"_

"Nate, can you at least throw us the keys so we can get undone, here," Sophie asked, not really caring much about his apparent mental breakdown he was about to have.

Parker just smirked and held her handcuffs up in the air, dangling them in front of her face. Sophie's eyes went wide, her mouth opening in shock. She looked at her accusingly.

"How long have you…?!"

"Awhile," Parker replied, still smirking. Sophie narrowed her eyes.

"Why didn't you let me out of mine?!"

"I kind of liked seeing you handcuffed," Parker said, her smirk growing larger. That is until Sophie growls at bit at her. Parker makes an 'oops' face.

"Parker!" she exclaimed, angry. "Let me out of mine!" Parker rushed to do so, not liking angry Sophie very much and picked the lock on her cuffs. Sophie brought her hands back around to her front and rubs her wrists, still glaring at Parker. _"Thank you."_

Nate seemed to gotten over his shock now though, and looked pretty pissed off. "Why didn't you two just run? How did you end up getting _caught?_ I mean hell, do you know what would have happened if Hardison didn't happen to have a crawl on the FBI's system? Can you even…?!"

"Yes, Nate, and we're_ sorry_," Sophie stressed. "But we weren't exactly about to make a run for it. We were _naked_, for Christ's sake."

"This is _exactly_ why people should not date their co-workers!" Nate explodes, furious.

"Because they all have sex in their cars?" Parker asked with genuine curiosity. Nate made some sort of frustrated noise which make's Parker's eyes go wide. "Nevermind," she said quickly.

"You two are completely irresponsible!" Nate goes on, still on his rant. "You put the entire team at risk because you felt like you needed to have a little play date, and hide it from us no less!"

Sophie's mad now, not at all liking the tone and the manner in which he's regarding her relationship with Parker, and not liking the fact that she's being outed at the moment. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize we needed anyone's permission for our _play date," _she said dryly.

"Well you did!" Nate yelled. The complete wrong thing to say.

"Pull over, Nate," Sophie ordered him. She was done with this crap. Nate just looked at her like she was crazy and she said a little more loudly, "Pull over!"

"Sophie I'm not going to let you guys out in bright orange jumpsuits," Nate says, shaking his head like she was being stupid for even suggesting it.

"Well then shut up and stop being such a bloody_ ass_ about everything," Sophie responded, face contorted with anger. Parker looked at her and gave her a small smile of comfort and put her hand on her leg.

"I love her, Nate," Parker told him, trying to at least make him see. It doesn't do any good though, and Nate just shot her the dirtiest look he could muster through the rear view mirror. Parker looked down, upset.

That made Sophie even more furious. "You know, just because you never took the bloody time to care about me, to make a move on me, doesn't mean that no one can have me," she told him.

"That's not what this is about!" Nate yelled.

"Isn't it?" Sophie yells back. "Parker stole your girl, right? Well boo hoo, get over it!"

Nate slammed on the brakes then, making both women fly into the seats in front of them. "Fine, you two want to walk? Walk! I won't bail you out of jail when they pick you up."

Sophie went to get out, but Parker put her hand on her arm, stopping her. "No!" she said, getting upset herself. She looked and Nate and told him. "I'm really sorry, Nate? Okay? I'm really really sorry and I know you hate me but I love her and I just can't not do anything about that! I don't know how! I'm sorry!" Then tears started to fall from Parker's eyes, and Sophie could tell that she thought it was all her fault.

"God, Parker. Don't cry," Nate said as he rubbed his temples, feeling bad himself for making the girl break down. He looked back at her and handed her a tissue from the glove compartment. "Please stop crying, please? Let's just back to the office."

Parker took the tissue and blew her nose, looking upset with herself for even crying in the first place. Sophie looked at her and held her arms out to her, and Parker crawled into them and laid her head on her shoulder as Nate pulled back into traffic.

The rest of the ride was in silence, and when they finally walked through the office doors they were greeted by Hardison and Eliot, who were staring at them.

"Bonnie and Clyde are back," Hardison said dryly.

"See, now I'm wondering which one's Clyde," Eliot said, smirking a bit. He was the only one. He coughed and sat down next to Hardison. "Nevermind."

"Ya'll…" Hardison started, pointing at them. Then he made a funny face and finished, "Ya'll _seriously_ got busted for having sex in a car? _Seriously?_"

"Yes," Sophie said firmly, just wanting it to be over with. She looked at everyone and said, "I'm going to get out of this damn orange thing. Parker?" She turned to Parker, asking if she was going to come.

"I don't have any clothes here," Parker said, looking down at herself.

"You can borrow something of mine," Sophie told her and held out her hand for her to take. Parker took it but then said:

"But you're wider than me."

Hardison and Eliot's eyes go wide and they look at each other. Hardison's got a hand over his mouth. Sophie turned back around slowly and said calmly, knowing Parker doesn't fully understand what she should and shouldn't say, "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. Okay?"

Parker blinked, not getting why. But shrugged and nodded before following Sophie into her office. Sophie closed to the door behind her and addressed Parker. "Rule one of dating a woman," she told her. "Never say a woman is bigger, wider, or fatter. Or big, wide, or fat in general. Okay?"

"Um, okay," Parker said, blinking a couple more times. "But what if it's the truth?"

"No matter how fat a woman is, if she asks you if those pants she's wearing make her look fat, the answer is always _no_," she stressed, trying to make her point. "Or any other item of clothing. It's a woman thing."

"I think I missed the woman thing," Parker realizes suddenly. Then she looked confused, "And I'm a woman."

Sophie laughed softly and went into her closet, starting to pull out clothes for the two of them. Parker starts to get herself out of the orange jumpsuit, and when Sophie turns around she's face to face with a naked Parker. "Oh lord," she exclaimed.

"Huh?" Parker asked, then she seemed to have gotten it because she said. "Oh, well I need to get dressed, don't I?"

"Right, yeah. Clothes," Sophie said, distracted. She throws Parker some clothes and starts to take off her own orange destroyer-of-any-fashion-sense jumpsuit before putting some of her other clothes back on. Her eyes flickered up to Parker, and then she smiled. "Wow."

"What?" Parker asked.

"You look… really nice," Sophie told her, which made Parker go over to the full length mirror that Sophie had put in her office and make a face.

"Yeah, I guess. But your boobs look better in this than mine do," she observed, then tried to hoist her boobs up which makes Sophie laugh.

"They're fine, Parker."

A knock on the door. "Parker, I got your cell and it's ringing. A Peggy?" Nate asked through the door.

"Oh!" Parker said, smiling. "Alice's friend! I forgot I was supposed to hang out with her tonight."

"Tonight?" Sophie asked her, feeling her lips turn down into a frown despite herself. "I thought you were going to come over tonight."

"What?" Parker asked as she opened the door to get the phone from Nate. "Oh, we will. Later, or tomorrow? We could do it all day tomorrow if you want. Sex or non sex related activities." Nate looked like he was about to be sick, gave Parker the phone and walked away quickly.

Sophie just shrugged. "No, it's fine. Tomorrow's good, go have fun with your friend."

Parker smiled and answered the phone, and for some reason Sophie started to get a really bad feeling in her gut.

**TBC…**


	9. The Fatal Flaw

**CHAPTER NINE  
The Fatal Flaw**

Parker was late coming over the next day. Really late, in fact.

Sophie exhaled heavily and stared at the clock again. It was four thirty; didn't Parker say she'd be over at two? She chewed on her thumbnail a bit as she stared at the clock, but the shook her head and rose to her feet, feeling ridiculous. She's not going to be that type of girlfriend, she's just not. But she was pacing now, her phone in her hand, trying to test her resistance to just calling the girl and just _bitching her out_.

She never called to say she would be late, what if something happened? But then again, what if something didn't and she just didn't care enough to call? Or worse, what if she's having sex with someone right now? Sophie knows she said she could handle it, but that doesn't seem to be looking like an option at the moment.

Okay, this was getting a bit out of hand. Sophie sat herself back down on the couch. She was turning into one of _those _girlfriends, more quickly than she wanted to. She always hated people like that.

The door opened then and Parker came through it with a smile on her face and a little wave, "Hi Sophie!"

Sophie counted to three in her head so she didn't blow up and actually verbalize herself becoming one of those psychotic girlfriends. She looked at her, trying to act casual and that she wasn't completely _furious _over the fact that she's late, "Where have you been?" She said it light, like it didn't matter, but inside she was screaming it.

Sophie thought she might be going a bit nuts.

"With Peggy," Parker told her, like its nothing that she's been with her for the past eighteen hours. She sits down next to her and nuzzles into her neck.

Sophie blinked and took a deep breath. It's okay; she did say Parker could do whatever she wanted, right? It's all okay.

It so wasn't all okay.

"Doing what?" she asked, still attempting to keep her voice as even as possible, and not in any way responding to Parker being affectionate. She can't do two things at once, and controlling herself took precedence. She wanted to actually keep Parker, after all.

Parker looked up at her from laying her head on her shoulder and paused, "Um, just some stuff."

Sophie could feel her heart sink. She did have sex with Peggy; she can read it all over her face. And the worst part about it is, Parker isn't telling her because she knows it'll hurt her even though Sophie said it'd be okay. Sophie just blinked and then got up quickly, making Parker fall over a bit on to the couch.

"I… I forgot I left a burner on on the stove," Sophie said, trying to still act okay but by the look on Parker's face it doesn't look like she pulled it off very well. She shot her a small smile to try and reassure her, then retreated into the kitchen.

"Fuck, get a grip, Sophie," Sophie mumbled to herself as she leaned on the counter and closed her eyes, trying to just calm her _intensely jealous homicidal rage_.

Because really, she wanted to fucking kill that bitch.

Peggy, or whoever. Not Parker.

Sophie's fist comes down to slam against the counter before she even registers in her brain that she needs to hit something. "Fuck," she said again, just trying to chill out but not coming anywhere close to it.

She feels crazy, but it hurts and she's angry because it's her fault in the first place. She stupidly gave her permission so she has no right to be angry about it.

"Sophie?"

Sophie turned at the sound of her name and sees Parker standing in the doorway, looking at her like she doesn't understand what's wrong.

"How long have you been standing there?" Sophie asked her, though pretty sure she doesn't want to know the answer to that.

"Since you hit the counter," Parker told her. "And swore. Are you okay?" She had this look on her face like she wanted to make Sophie better but didn't know how.

"I'm fine, I promise," Sophie responds, taking another deep breath and willing herself to smile at the girl. She has to get over this, she just has to. There isn't any other option.

Parker nodded quickly, then looked down at her shoes. She looked back up at her and asked in a voice that indicated that she wasn't sure if she should even be asking it, "Can we do sex related activities please? You're really pretty and I think it'd be fun… right now. Because we'd be naked, and stuff."

Sophie really didn't want to fuck Parker after that other girl had been all over her, she'd probably smell like her or something. God, what if she was better than Sophie in bed? What if she thinks about her when their having sex? Oh no.

This really isn't any good at all.

"Sophie?" Parker's looking at her funny now since she hasn't answered yet.

Sophie swallows hard, trying to stop all the 'what if's' from destroying her new relationship, but she still doesn't want to have sex. She's not in the mood. "I think I'm just going to take a nap," she replied.

Parker's face fell. "Oh," she said, then kicked an invisible pebble. "Okay. Well, I'm going to watch you sleep, okay?"

Sophie closed her eyes and smiled a bit, Parker really was very sweet. When she opened them she said, "I'd like that."

Parker smiled then and held out her hand for Sophie to take. She took it and followed Parker into the bedroom, who sat on her bed. Sophie crawled in, just wanting to forget the day and go back to yesterday when she didn't have any rational or irrational fears coming up to surface.

She turned on her side that wasn't facing Parker and closed her eyes. Parker started stroking her hair softly, and it made Sophie smile a bit. But she was upset, she was really upset, and she hated that because she had no right to be. She was trying so hard not to cry, but she kept _picturing_ Parker with this other woman and it just killed her inside.

It had been awhile now, at least a half an hour and Parker was sure Sophie was asleep, but she wasn't. She was still stroking her hair softly and then she whispered something, not thinking she could hear her. "I love you Sophie, I know you're mad at me right now. I'm sorry."

The tears that Sophie had been trying so hard to fight fell down her cheeks then, but Sophie didn't move. She didn't want her to know she had heard her. Parker leaned down and kissed Sophie on the top of her head, and Sophie bit her lip so she wouldn't sob and make any kind of sound.

Then she heard a vibration sound, and then Parker's whisper as she answered her phone, "Peggy, I'm with my girlfriend right now."

Sophie didn't move, didn't dare breathe. She didn't need to hear this, but on the flip side, she _really_ needed to hear this. There was a pause and then, "I can't, she told me only once." Another pause, "I don't know if we can still hang out, I'd have to ask." Then there was, "No, she doesn't run my life. Why? I'm confused."

Sophie wanted to get up and take the phone away from her and tell the bitch on the other end to just stay the fuck out of their lives. That Parker was _hers_. She was _her _girlfriend.

"Yeah, I liked it," Parker tells the bitch on the other end. Sophie tries so hard not to scream or cry at that. "Yeah, I really like you too."

Sophie can't handle this, she just can't. She's trying so hard to stay still, to pretend to still be asleep, but tears are pouring down her face now.

"I'd have to ask her, I told you," Parker says to the other woman. A pause, "No I can't… I can't do that to her. That's mean. She'll cry if she finds out. I don't like to see her cry." Another pause, this time longer. "She just will, I don't know. She's Sophie, she'd know." Then the worst words came out of Parker's mouth, "I'll… think about it. I'll call you when I leave, okay?"

She hung up the phone then, and Sophie could only hold her silence for about a minute before a loud sob sneaked out between her lips, and then she just cried… she cried so hard it hurt her throat.

"Sophie?" Parker asked, putting a hand on Sophie's arm. Sophie shrugged it off of her, still crying. "Sophie, what's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

Sophie turned to face her, anger and sadness and betrayal written all over her face. "Yeah," she spit out venomously, "This has all been one _big_ bad dream, Parker."

"What?" Parker asked, not understanding what she's talking about.

"Just get out of my house," Sophie said before turning back around to face the wall.

"Sophie, what did I do?" Parker asked her, her voice now clearly showing how upset she is.

"What did you do?" Sophie asked with a little laugh. "_What did you do?_ You know exactly what you did."

"But… you told me I could," Parker said, and Sophie can tell she's trying not to cry. Sophie turned back around to face her and glared.

"Yeah, I did. And I hated it, but I got over it. Kind of, anyway. But then you tell this tramp that you'll 'think about it'. What's to think about Parker? Debating on cheating on me with this girl?"

"I…" Parker said, looking at her with regret. "I thought you were asleep. I was going to tell her no. I swear I was."

"But you didn't," Sophie said, angry. She shook her head, looking at Parker like she couldn't believe what she was looking at and said. "Just get out of my house, Parker. Now."

"Sophie…"

"NOW, Parker," Sophie told her sternly, pointing to the door. Parker was crying now, a tear just falling from her eyes.

"I told you this would happen," she said.

"GET OUT," Sophie said, not wanting to hear anything from her at the moment anymore. She just needed her gone, needed to clear her head. Needed her… just away from her right now.

"This is why I didn't want to do this," Parker tried to explain, but that just made Sophie blow up.

"Do you need a bloody hearing-aid? I said GET OUT, PARKER!"

Parker just looked at her like she'd be shot, but slowly gets off the bed. She took a deep breath and bit her bottom lip and just nodded. "Okay." She gave her a little awkward sad wave. "B-Bye Sophie…"

And then she was gone and Sophie just cried. She hated this. She hated all of this. Parker was so perfect… except for that one fatal flaw.

**TBC…**


	10. Post It Apologies

**CHAPTER TEN  
Post-It Apologies**

Three days, two boxes of tissues, one gallon of ice cream, and thirty-seven missed calls from Parker later, Sophie was ready to finally face the world again. She might not have had the best coping mechanisms, but they did work for her. She called Nate the night she kicked Parker out and told him she had come down with the flu, so she wouldn't be into work for a couple days. Nate was fine with it, said they would try to put off on getting another job until she was feeling better. Unfortunately he also insisted he come over to 'take care' of her, which made Sophie have to do a lot of convincing that she was really contagious and it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Parker had left a voicemail on her machine each time she called, most consisting of how sorry she is and how much she loves her. Sophie listened to each one in full as she cried; probably shedding most of her water weight these last couple of days because she just wanted to hear Parker's voice. She did however have to skip over the one where Parker attempted to sing a song. Sophie wasn't even sure what it was supposed to be of, but Parker was not blessed with being on key. But it made Sophie laugh a little though, despite her sadness.

Sophie thought a lot over these last three days, trying to figure out what she really wanted and how much she could handle. Yes, she hated that Parker slept with Peggy. But she did say she could. And yes, Parker was trying to decide if she should cheat on her by going to see Peggy for a second time, but she didn't actually do it. Sophie realized she was just hurt by Parker's wavering loyalty, but that in the end, _Parker didn't do it_. Maybe she might have stopped it by yelling at her, kicking her out, but regardless of the reason she didn't do it, and that had to count for something.

Plus, Sophie missed the feeling of Parker in her arms, missed seeing her smile, and missed all the quirky little things she used to do all the time. So she dragged herself out of bed that third day and decided to go back into the office, ready to just work things out with her. She needed Parker in her life, she really _really_ did.

She said hi to Nate, who told her he was glad she was feeling better. She went straight into her office then, just trying to find a moment to collect herself before she went to go see Parker. But when she opened the door, she gave a little yelp.

She blinked as she looked around her office, not sure if what she was seeing was even real. She took a hesitant step forward, looking around in shock. There were at least two hundred little post-it notes on the walls on her office. Sophie walked closer, trying to see what they each said. They all said the same thing, written in Parker's scrawled handwriting:

"_I'm sorry, I love you."_

Each one handwritten, each one stuck up with precise accuracy. Sophie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, realizing how long is must have taken Parker to do this. She took one down, holding it in her hand as she read it again. She brushed her thumb over the words that looked more like chicken scratch then real print and smiled to herself.

The door closed softly behind her and Sophie jumped instinctively, turning around. Parker stood there, leaning against it, looking at her with a look that Sophie could only describe as remorse. They stood there for a bit, each woman looking at the other, neither moving.

Finally Sophie spoke softly. "You did all this?" she asked her, indicating the walls around her. Parker nodded and pressed her lips together. "It must have taken you forever."

"Three and a half hours," Parker told her, looking down. There was more silence before Parker looked up, her big green eyes wide and sad and she said, "Sophie, I love you. I love you a lot, like a lot a lot. And… it hurts right now, right here." She indicated her heart. "And I don't know how to make it stop, it's never hurt this much before. And I'm really sorry, and I know you dumped me but I—"

"Parker," Sophie stopped her quietly, holding up her hand a bit. "I didn't dump you. We just had a fight, we didn't break up."

"We didn't?" Parker blinked, looking confused and shocked.

"No," Sophie told her. "I was just angry. I never said I didn't want to see you again."

"We're still together?" Parker asked, still dumbfounded by the thought.

"Yes," Sophie replied. "But that doesn't mean everything just goes away, okay? We still need to talk."

Parker nodded, and for the first time in her life, Sophie couldn't figure out what Parker was thinking by her expression. She peered at the girl, but then a smile formed on her face, and Sophie could read that. "So you're still my girlfriend?"

"YES," Sophie said, and let out a little laugh from Parker's constant disbelief on the matter.

Parker's smile was even bigger now, but then she looked down for a moment. "Can I hug you?" she asked as she addressed the ground more than Sophie, not knowing if it would be appropriate. Then her eyes were up again, and Sophie smiled and nodded.

One minute Parker was on the other side of the room, the next she had jumped into Sophie's arms, almost making her topple over. Sophie laughed as she regained her balance, holding onto Parker tight. They just stood like that together for a few moments, until Parker's voice cracks a bit as she whispered next to her ear, "I'm really, really sorry Sophie…"

"I know, Parker," Sophie whispered back. She runs her fingers through the other woman's blonde hair and holds her closer. She sighed a bit as she finished, "I know, sweetie."

They stepped back from each other slowly, and Sophie brushed a piece of hair away from Parker's face. Parker looked down though, still feeling ashamed. "I wish I didn't do it," Parker told her softly, honestly. She took a hesitant breath and went on. "I just didn't know what to do…"

Sophie chewed on her bottom lip a bit before taking Parker's hand in hers. She took a couple steps back and leaned against her desk, pulling Parker softly along with her. Parker pursed her lips together but sat on Sophie's desk heavily, her hand squeezing the grifter's. She looked nervous still.

Sophie just watched her for a moment. She was wondering if she should ask, but she knows she could be afraid of the answer. But another part of her just wanted to know _why._ Why now? Why this soon? Why didn't she stop it?

She brought Parker's hand up that was in hers and brought it up to her lips slowly, kissing the back of it, needing Parker to know she wasn't going to go anywhere. "What happened?" she finally asked her as she brushed her thumb lightly over the other woman's hand.

Parker looked down at her from the desk and blinks before her eyes fall on the wall as she shifts a bit in her seat, uncomfortable. "You want to know…?"

"I don't—" Sophie said automatically but stops and revises herself. She took another deep breath, trying to prepare herself. "I don't want to know all the dirty details… but I want to know why, Parker."

Parker just stared at the wall a moment, silent. Sophie wondered if she was even going to tell her, or if telling her was just going to make it worse. But Sophie just needed to know, so she squeezed Parker's hand a bit to comfort her, tell her it's alright, and then finally she saw Parker take a shaky breath and start.

"We usually go out for coffee, Peggy and me. We've done it three times." Sophie watched her, she knew this already, but didn't say anything. "But this time Peggy said she wanted to go to this night club that just opened. It wasn't one with a bunch of kids, it was just kind of like a coffee house put together with a bar and music, that's what she said." She paused for a minute, then looked at Sophie finally. "I've never had any real friends before, outside of you guys anyway. So I just… I went. I didn't want Alice to lose her friend."

Sophie nodded, understanding that. Parker turned away from her then, choosing to speak to the wall again. "And we had drinks and we talked, danced a little. I'm kind of uncoordinated in that area, but it was fun." Sophie smiled, imagining Parker dancing. "I knew she liked girls, she mentioned that before, but I didn't know she liked _me_ until that night."

A funny look passed over Parker's features, clearly not wanting to go on. "I know I'm bad with alcohol, but I still kept drinking because she was. And then I went to get up and I almost fell." She looked at Sophie again, "I don't like alcohol it, it messes up your balance and your ability to get out of situation. Dulls everything. I don't know why I did it."

Sophie nodded again, still silent. She felt back though, she did know Parker was bad with alcohol, she even used that against her before to lower her defenses. Why would she think Peggy would be any different?

Her gaze was back to the wall again, and she licked her lips nervously. "She said she'd take me to her house since I was drunk. I told her I could call you but she said since it was late I shouldn't bother you and that I could just sleep over her house and she'd take me to my car in the morning."

Another long pause, and Sophie turned to look at Parker, standing and moving herself between Parker's legs as she sat on the desk so she could face her. Parker didn't look at her. "Hey," Sophie said softly, trying to get her attention. Parker looked at her and Sophie asked, "Then what happened?" She wrapped her arms around Parker's waist then, trying to prove a point that she wasn't going anywhere.

Parker took another deep breath and looked down. "She uh… she helped me into her house and brought me into her bedroom so I could lay down. I was really tired and felt like I was going to fall over. So I laid down and she got in bed and laid next to me." Parker's voice broke as she said the next part of her story, "She took my hand… and then she asked me if I knew how beautiful I was."

Sophie closed her eyes for a moment and leaned her forehead against Parker's, holding her tighter. "You are beautiful," she told her in a whisper, angry with herself that she never once decided to tell Parker that. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Parker made a sound that resembled her choking back a sob before she finished in a whisper, "And then her hand wasn't in mine anymore. It was…" she trailed off, knowing Sophie didn't want to know. "And then… and then she kissed me." She sniffed a bit, trying to control her own emotions.

Sophie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and was silent for a moment. She moved her head a bit to look Parker in the eyes and then finally spoke, "You were drunk."

"Yeah," Parker said quietly. But she shook her head and finished, "But I knew I should have… I should have just told her no."

"Parker," Sophie said, putting her hand under Parker's chin to have her look her in the eyes. "I know you're impulsive, okay? And I know you were drunk. I don't like it, but I can forgive it. But…" she took another deep breath, once again afraid to ask. "Why did you tell her you'd think about seeing her again?"

Parker looked away from her again, her face pained. "I've never had any friends, Sophie. Peggy's nice… I didn't want to hurt her feelings."

"What about my feelings?" slipped through Sophie's lips before she could stop it.

"I know it's mean but I thought you were asleep," she told her, looking down again before looking back up to meet Sophie's gaze. "I was going to ask you how to tell her no without hurting her when you woke up."

"Oh," Sophie said, suddenly feeling like she was irrational and that she jumped to conclusions far too fast.

"Yeah," Parker said. She looked down at her sneakers, but Sophie moved her head again to make her look at her. "I'm really sorry," Parker said, pressing her lips together.

"It's…" Sophie started, but realized she didn't want to go on anymore. "I forgive you, Parker." Sophie told her, taking her hands in hers again. "Just please… please try not to do that again."

"I'll try, I swear. I'll try really, really hard," Parker said and chewed on her bottom lip. Then finally she asked, "Can we kiss now?"

Sophie laughed a bit, "Yeah, we can—" but she didn't get the entire sentence out before Parker's lips were against hers, Parker's arms finding their way around Sophie's neck. She parted her lips to let Parker in, emitting a low groan of approval as Parker's fingers snaked their way though Sophie's dark tresses. Sophie wrapped her arms around Parker's tiny frame and kissed her deeper, feeling like she was falling into her. She forgot how much she just missed this.

When they broke, Parker was breathing a bit heavily and had a look in her eye that Sophie knew very well. "Not here, " she told her with a little smile. "We work here."

"But—"

Sophie giggled a bit and put her finger to Parker's lips before bringing her own to Parker's ear and whispering: "I want to make love to you when we go back to your house."

Parker blinked, looking confused. "I've never done that, is it hard?"

Sophie laughed softly, her face still in Parker's neck. She found it endearing how Parker thought it was something completely opposite than sex, when really it's just a couple minor details. "I'll teach you," she promised her softly.

**TBC…**


	11. Three Little Words

**CHAPTER ELEVEN  
Three Little Words**

"So how do we do this?" Parker asked, looking at Sophie like she's determined to learn.

Sophie just laughed softly at Parker's actions and that thinking that making love was more of a task than an emotional thing. They were standing in Parker's bedroom, which was completely bare except for a bed. That was Parker for you though, only buying things she needed, nothing more.

"You're not really learning anything completely new, Parker," Sophie told her with a smile

Parker looked confused. "Oh, but I thought it was something different than sex. Is it just sex with a different name?"

"Sort of," Sophie said and nodded her head at the bed. "Lay down and I'll show you, I promise."

A smile crept across Parker's face and she bounded over to the bed, getting on it heavily, which made it bounce a bit. Sophie giggled and crawled over to her until she was half on her and half on the bed, looking down at her face. She pushed a stray piece of blonde hair away softly before bringing her lips down to kiss her tenderly.

Parker parted her lips, inviting Sophie in for a taste as her arms wrapped around Sophie's neck, bringing her closer to her. Sophie's hand wandered down Parker's chest, over her shirt that rode up just a bit to expose her flat pale stomach. Parker sighed happily into her mouth and they just lay there for awhile, kissing each other very slowly and softly.

Then Sophie's lips fell from Parker's to her neck and she kissed her lightly. "You're the most amazing woman I've ever met," Sophie whispered against her neck, and then watched Parker bite her lower lip. "You're talented," she said, kissing her once on the base of her neck. "Beautiful," she went on, then kissed a bit higher. "Carefree." Another kiss, and now she was at her ear. "You're full of so much light…" she whispered to her. "You make me not afraid of the dark anymore."

Parker's grip on her lower lip seemed to tighten and she bit it harder, emotions playing across her face as she turned her head to look at the woman she loved. "Sophie…"

Sophie put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "No," she told her gently. "This isn't about me tonight, this is about you." Parker still tried to say something though, and Sophie smiled as she realized what it was. "Metaphorical dark, Parker. That's what I meant." Parker smiled a bit around her finger from Sophie knowing and then she nodded slowly. Sophie took her finger from her lips and kissed her again.

Then her hand wrapped around the bottom of Parker's shirt, and she lifted it up to expose her breasts to the air. But she didn't touch them just yet, just kept kissing her, her hand resting lightly back on her stomach. Parker closed her eyes as Sophie's lips left hers and she slid her body down a bit. Then she kissed Parker's stomach, just above her belly button. Sophie could feel her breathing pick up as it moved her abdomen and she kissed her lightly, a bit higher. Parker's hand gripped Sophie's shirt, holding it tightly as Sophie kissed her a little higher up.

Then her lips wrapped around Parker's nipple and Parker's back arched off the bed as she bit her lower lip again. "Sophie…" she gasped out quietly as the grifter's tongue teased her gently.

Sophie's hand slid slowly down Parker's body, resting at the button on Parker's jeans. As she focused on Parker's upper body with her mouth, her hands focused on her lower one, unbuttoning and unzipping her pants. Parker took the initiative to move her own hands to her body and slide them off of her, sitting up a bit which made Sophie's lips break contact with her.

"I don't want to be the only one naked," Parker told her softly. Sophie giggled a bit and sat up as she pulled her own shirt over her hand.

"I wasn't planning on that, trust me. You're just impatient," she told her as she unhooked her bra, letting her breasts fall free.

"Maybe," Parker said with a smirk, and then she was helping Sophie get out of her skirt and panties, throwing them to the side.

Then Parker was on top of her all of a sudden, pushing her down to the bed again, kissing her softly, her hands wandering down Sophie's nude form. Sophie gasped as Parker cupped her breasts, moaning softly as her thumbs brushed over her nipples lightly.

Her lips went from Sophie's mouth downwards as she slid her body down with them. "Parker…" Sophie said softly, trying to tell her something. "I wanted to—"

"I know what you wanted," Parker told her, positioning herself between her legs. She smiled at her, "But like you said, I'm impatient."

Sophie gasped hard, her hands gripping at the bed sheets as Parker's mouth was suddenly on her now, teasing her clit lightly with her tongue. "God, Parker," she gasped out, spreading her legs wider and bending her back in a way that made her hips get closer to the other woman.

Parker stayed down there for awhile, taking her time, enjoying the way Sophie would quietly gasp every now and then and wiggle beneath her. When her breathing started to get more pronouncedly labored, Parker kissed Sophie's inner thigh as her hand replaced her mouth and she rubbed her hard, making Sophie emit a short scream from pleasure and shock.

"Oh my god!" Sophie yelled, her hand slamming down against the bed. "Oh my god, Parker," she repeated, her eyes closed and her mouth opened in pleasure. Parker smiled and slipped her fingers into Sophie so she could move and crawl on top of her to watch Sophie's face more closely as she pleasured her.

Sophie was panting hard as Parker's fingers, with every skilled accuracy as a thief – all her movements being for one sole reason – and she opened her eyes to look at her. "I love you," she gasped out.

Parker blinked, her fingers stopping from the shock. "Please don't stop, Parker. Please…" Sophie begged, knowing why she did but still needing her to finish.

Parker took a breath, her eyes shifting as Sophie saw them mist over. Then she looked down at the woman beneath her before kissing her again… then moved her fingers in a way that made Sophie scream against them.

Parker desperately needed to please Sophie, for all the reasons in the world and yet for only just one at the same time. Sophie was gasping against her lips, her arms wrapped around the smaller woman, digging her nails in as she moved her hips against Parker's hand.

"I love you too," Parker whispered against her lips, and then Sophie's head fell back and Parker felt all her muscles contract around her fingers, pulling her deeper inside, letting her feel the pulse deep within her. Then she released, screaming Parker's name.

Parker waited a bit to let Sophie catch her breath before she kissed her neck lightly and snuggled against her. "Did you really mean that?" she asked her.

Sophie breathed for a bit, then turned her head to look at her. "Yeah," she said with a smile, like she couldn't really believe it herself but was happy that she did. "I do mean it. I love you, Parker…"

Parker smiled wide then, the biggest smile Sophie had ever think she saw Parker have in her life, and kissed her again. The two didn't sleep that much that night, much too involved in each other to even care about required things like that. But both of them were the happiest they think they ever had been in their life.

But then two weeks later, something changed.

**TBC…**


	12. Loose Ends

**CHAPTER TWELVE  
Loose Ends**

Over the next two weeks, Parker seemed to be acting a bit strange. At first Sophie thought it was just because she's Parker and she's always acting a bit off, but if there was one thing Sophie was good at it was noticing when someone was hiding something. She knew she wasn't cheating on her or anything, she was pretty much always with Sophie and she never came back with that guilty look that she had after she had her one-nighter with Peggy. But Sophie couldn't figure out for the life of her what it was, and it was starting to bother her. Not just that she couldn't figure it out, but because that since Parker was hiding it, it had to be bad.

So she did the only thing she knew how to do: she spied on her.

Maybe it was wrong, maybe she should have just trusted Parker and let it go, but she loved her… and she didn't want to be in love with someone she didn't really know.

Well, it made sense in her head at least.

So that's why she was in Hardison's house, staring at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked her.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Sophie responded, but then revised so she sounded less bitchy. She looked down and sighed, shrugging a bit, trying to play it up just a bit. "Look I…" she scuffed her shoe on the floor and then looked back up at him. "I'm just scared something bad is going on… maybe she's in trouble, you know?"

Sophie didn't think Parker was in trouble. But that didn't matter; what mattered was getting what she wanted. Just clearing everything up.

Hardison looked at her like he wasn't sure if he should trust her, which he probably shouldn't, but she gave him a pleading look and he sighed. "Fine, but if Parker finds out, you forced me at gunpoint."

"Deal," Sophie said.

Hardison sighed again and muttered, "Can't believe I'm gonna do this…" under his breath before he sat down on his computer. Sophie sat next to him and watched as he fired up his programs.

"How late do you want to go back to?" he asked her.

"Just like… three weeks," Sophie responded and watched as he typed a bunch of stuff in. There was a bunch of screens and a lot of numbers that looked like code for awhile before suddenly there they were.

"There you go," Hardison said. "Parker's call records and text messages from the last three weeks." He shook his head before getting up. "And I'm leaving because I don't want to know, and most definitely don't want to be involved anymore than I already am."

"Thanks, Hardison," Sophie replied as she started to scan them over as he left. He muttered something that sounded an awful like 'don't thank me', before leaving, making her feel a bit bad.

She was spying on her girlfriend. And sure, she could make it valid in her head by saying she was worried she was in trouble or something… but that would be a lie, and lies don't work all that well in your own head. She didn't know what it was, just knew it would be bad. So then why is she even looking for it? Why was she bloody cursed with curiosity? Can't she just let it go and be happy?

Nope. That would be too easy, wouldn't it?

God, a lot of text messages from Peggy. Parker said she hadn't talked to her since they got back together, and she believed her. She told Parker she didn't want her to lose her friend, but Parker explained to her that she didn't want her to not trust her.

Look how well that plan worked out.

But Parker was true to her word: a lot from Peggy, none to. A lot of missed calls as well. Sophie only debated a half a minute before starting to read the text messages Peggy was sending. Damn curiosity.

"_Alice please call me."_

"_What's going on? I thought you said you two broke up."_

"_Are you angry with me? I thought we had a nice time together…"_

And then there was one that made Sophie blink a couple times and reread it just to make sure she read it correctly.

"_Why did you have sex with me again if you were gonna do this? I thought things were done with her. What the hell, Ali!"_

Why did she have sex with her? _AGAIN?_ And… Ali? Seriously? Her name's not even Alice, you stupid slut, so stop shortening it.

Sophie blinked, reading the text again. Nope, it really said again. Again. She didn't realize how much she hated that word until just now.

AGAIN.

This is why Parker had been acting weird, why she looked a bit weird when Sophie said they never broke up. She had cheated; she had actually cheated on her. Oh my god.

Should she break up with her over it? She should, right? She should break up with Parker because she cheated on her. That's what the normal response is, right?

Maybe she didn't _know_ she was cheating, but she still did. And that's the point, isn't it?

Wait, there was a text message to Peggy… from today. Sophie clicked on it and read:

"_Meet me at my house around two, okay? We'll talk."_

"Fuck," Sophie said before getting up quickly, the seat pushing back so far it falls over. Hardison came back into the room, hearing the crash. She looked at her watch, it was nearing two.

"What's up?" he asked her, noticing her demeanor. She was looking like she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.

"I gotta go," she said, before leaving the apartment. He tried to call after her, but she didn't answer. She just walked out, walked out of the building, and out into the street where she got into her car.

Sophie took a breath and tried to calm down. She had to calm down. It was okay, it was, right? Parker didn't know, so she can't blame her for it… can't break up with her for it. And she's wasn't talking to her anymore… until now, though. She invited Peggy over her house. And that… god she kind of just wanted to go over there and slap the woman.

It wasn't like she didn't trust Parker – she _did_ – she just didn't trust Peggy. Parker was impulsive and reckless by nature, and having this woman come over didn't seem like it would be such a great idea in the long run. Peggy wanted her, that was clear. Sophie also doubted she would just sit down and take the fact that Parker was now with her again willingly. She was bound to try_ something_.

So that's why she was now outside of Parker's apartment, knocking on the door. Deciding against breaking up, though she was still a bit angry. Instead she decided on trusting her and seeing where it'll lead.

When Parker opened it Sophie peered inside, expecting to see Peggy… but didn't. She looked down at her watch again, it was only two fifteen.

"Hi Sophie," Parker greeted her, smiling and with a light kiss on the lips. But Parker looked nervous, though obviously was trying to hide it. That didn't make Sophie feel any better. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd come over for a bit, you don't mind do you?" Sophie asked her, trying to gage her reaction.

"What? No. No, why would I mind?" Parker asked, and Sophie inwardly groaned. Parker's trying to hide Peggy. Damnit.

Normally when faced with this kind of situation Sophie would demand to know where she is and possibly hit the other woman while blaming Parker for hiding her, but she thought better of it this time. Parker was probably just scared of how she would react if she found Peggy, which of course could lead her to possibly jump to bad conclusions. But Sophie was pretty sure she knew what was going on, so she didn't penalize her for it. She did know she could be a bit of a psycho every now and then.

Sophie just gave her a knowing look before walking into her apartment. She looked around and when she didn't see anyone, headed to the bathroom.

The door was locked.

"Parker," Sophie started, turning to face her. "Why's you're bathroom locked?"

"Um…"

"Parker," Sophie repeated her name again, this time firmer. She just wanted her to tell her the truth.

Parker looked positively terrified. "Please don't be mad, Sophie? Okay? I just wanted to talk to her to tell her I'm still dating you."

Sophie turned from her and banged her fist once hard on the door. "Peggy, get out here."

The bathroom lock clicked as it unlocked and the door opened slowly to reveal Peggy, who looked halfway between scared and attempting to look intimidating. Sophie just gave her one look and said simply, "Get out."

She didn't want to fight. Well, she did actually but she didn't think that would be very good for Parker. But instead of leaving Peggy crossed her arms over her chest and said just as simply, "No."

"Guys, please don't fight," Parker said, worrying at the possibilities. Like she should.

Sophie cocked an eyebrow at her and took a step forward, making Peggy take a step back. "Excuse me?" she asked. "Did you have a problem hearing what I said? Get out of my girlfriend's house."

"No, she has yet to explain to me why she fucked me and then ignored me after she told me you two broke up," Peggy responded, looking angry now. She turned to Parker. "And why did she calling you Parker, Alice?"

"Sophie!" Parker exclaimed, terrified she was going to get furious by finding that out. She didn't even address Peggy, finding this matter more pressing. "I thought we were broken up, I didn't mean to—"

But Sophie didn't let her finish, all she did was look at Peggy and say, "It was a mistake, obviously. Now I'm sorry if you still have feelings for her but she's mine. It's that simple, so can you please just go? _Now_," she stressed. "Or I'll make you go, either one."

Not that Sophie could take her, or much of anyone really. The only thing that ever made her intimidating was when she had a gun pointed in someone's face, but Peggy seemed to understand what she was saying. Parker however, looked positively dumb stuck that Sophie didn't kill her.

Peggy looked at Parker and just shook her head at her. "I thought you were different," was all she said before she walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Sophie was sure she could faintly hear crying.

"Sophie?" Parker asked, like she didn't know if she should even say her name.

Sophie finally turned and looked at her and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked her.

Parker looked down at her feet. "I just… I was afraid. I didn't want to lose you." She looked up at her. "I'm sorry… again."

Again. Sophie hated that word.

But she did love Parker.

"Stop trying to hide stuff from me, okay? Just be honest. Otherwise no, we're not going to make it as a couple. Alright?" Sophie told her, looking at her seriously. "I did think about breaking up with you… wanted to for a bit. But I… I know you didn't mean to fuck it up this time so I'm just going to let it go, okay? Never happened."

Parker just nodded mutely; stunned that Sophie would even say that. Sophie gave her a small smile and came over to her, wrapping her arms around her girl. She kissed her on the forehead and decided to tell the truth to her too, "And I'm sorry… but I had Hardison hack into your phone."

Sophie expected Parker to be mad, but instead she just giggled. "I know, Hardison already texted me apologizing. Said you did it at gunpoint."

Sophie stepped back and looked at her in disbelief.

God, that boy has _no_ backbone.

**THE END.**


End file.
